A Good Day for Reading the News

Why is Daria smiling? She is celebrating World Press Freedom Day by reading a newspaper, which I guess means she's way out of touch with things because everyone else is reading the Internet. Thank UNESCO, of course, for the tribute to the day.

Exactly 71 years ago today, Gone with the Wind won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The author, Margaret Mitchell, spent years researching the book, which was the only one she ever wrote. I saw the movie and still love watching Atlanta burn. Not because I don't like Atlanta, but because it's just cool to watch. Quinn and Daria must have liked watching it, too, in "Aunt Nauseam." You do know who Jake and Helen are posing as, right?

On a subject close to Daria's tricky little heart, today is also the 541st birthday of Renaissance political expert Niccolò Machiavelli, for whom "Nick's Corner" on PPMB is named. His political treatise, The Prince, became the subject of Daria and Tom's first prolonged conversation, in "Fire!" Figures.

On a closely related note, the government of Washington, D.C., was founded 208 years ago today. Happy Birthday, Beltway!

Finally, the first spam e-mails to ever pollute the pristine waters of the Internet were sent 32 years ago this day. And let me say: you BASTARDS!

Thank you for your time. Stay tooned for moar Daria.

PPMB

• ...And the Truth Shall Set You Free, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): "Ewwww!" Charles Ruttheimer III winced as the very pretty girl - Angie, one of the cheerleaders - accidentally bumped into him as he sat down "Don't touch me, freak!" Something snapped inside the mind of the boy known as 'Upchuck' at the sound of the girl's voice. "While my feelings yesterday may have been different... why would I want to touch you?"
• NEWER! Daria’s Game of Divinity, by Trscroggs (Part 1): When Daria opened her eyes, she found herself in a most peculiar room. There were no walls and everything was white. Daria was dressed in white slacks and a colorless t-shirt, which had NOT been what she went to bed in. The only spot of color in the room, besides Daria’s own skin, came from the brown wood chair on which she sat. “Oh god, not again,” Daria said out loud.
  
• The Dark Days to Come, by OverlordMikey (prologue): They were interrupted by the sound of Helen's voice: "Daria, Quinn. Downstairs now!" It had a strange mix of fear and anger. Daria found herself jumping to her feet, which she then realized she had never done before. "Your mom sounds angry," Jane commented, a look of concern on her face. "She must have discovered that secret lab hidden under the house, the question remains as to whether this will hinder my plans world conquest."
• The Dream of the White Darkness, by jtranser (continued): The greatest electromagnetic pulse ever created by man would generate novel RF effects barely hinted at by previous tests. And Daria's team would be the first to observe, record, and measure it. In the hours leading up to detonation, the team did last minute checks and calibrations of equipment and a last look around. Only one thing seemed unusual, and that was the total disappearance of the atoll's primary insect, a rather awkward bloated cockroach that spent its time on the island being eaten by birds and sand crabs. Daria mentioned it to Frank Valdaree, who speculated that this might indicate a cockroach hive mind sensitive to a six-stage EMP multi-pulse that propagated backwards through time.
• NEW! The Magic of Knick-Knacks, by Trscroggs (Part 1): “So you’re a witch?” Daria asked her best friend. “No,” Jane corrected, not looking up from the sketchpad she was working on, “I’m an artificer, which is a kind of a warlock. There are a number of differences between the two.”
• NEW! Parents Are People, by Legendeld (Part 3): Amy hummed to herself as she went through the paperwork concerning the sell of her condo at the kitchen table when Daria walked in and froze in place for twenty seconds. Amy sipped from her coffee to give the younger girl time to recover from the surprise. "Ready for school?" she asked casually.